112 Bulletin 174. 



the adjoining field. A man would not think of nsing a bugg^' for 

 carrying grain to market, but he will use one tool for many kinds 

 of work. The work is not only poorly done, but it is not economi- 

 cal. It costs too much. Persons who will economize to the small- 

 est degree in expenditures of money may be very wasteful in 

 expenditures of labor and muscle. 



Persons are always asking if deep plowing is best. The question 

 cannot be answered on general principles. Deep plowing may be 

 best for one field and one crop, and shallow plowing best for another 

 field and another crop. The same remarks will apply to fall plow- 

 ing and spring plowing. One must first learn principles, or the 

 why ; then the practice, or the how, will come easy. 



Note. The reader should have other sources of iuformatiou than this Lesson. 

 He may read our Bulletins 119, "Texture of the Soil;" 120, "The Moisture in 

 the Soil;" 72, "The Cultivation of Orchards;" and the three bu'letins on potato 

 culture (Nos. 130, 140, 156). His library should also have King's "Soil" and 

 Roberts' "Fertility of the Land." 



B. Answers to the Questions on the Five Lessons. 



NO. 1. THE soil : WHAT IT IS. 



Many of the questions in this lesson are intended merely to call 

 attention to certain fundamental facts and to promote thought and 

 discussion. 



1. Have you ever ohmrved the injiuence of weather upon soft slaty 

 rock jutting oat on etnhankments and in railroad cuts f 



2. Have you ever taken a glass of muddy water from a floioing 

 stream and allowed it to statid until the sediment had settled? 



What is this sediinent f 



These questions are intended merely to call attention to this 

 process of soil formation and transformation. 



3. Imagine a branch of this stream hringlng rotted slate rock and 

 another bringing fine sand. When mixed in the rnain stream and 

 deposited on some bar or overflowed field .^ tohat kind of soil would 

 the mixture make f 



A sandy or clayey soil, the exact nature of which would be gov- 

 erned by the relative })roportion of the different ingredients. Such 



